Device and method for magnetic element stacking game

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a multi-player magnetic element stacking game played on one or more shafts attached to a base and exploiting the phenomena of magnetic attraction or repulsion.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication 61/751,316, filed Jan. 11, 2013, incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a magnetic element stackinggame, and more specifically to a magnetic element stacking game playedon one or more shafts attached to a base and exploiting the phenomena ofmagnetic attraction or repulsion.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are many science kits that aim to demonstrate properties ofmagnets and magnetism using either passive magnetized items or itemsthat are temporarily magnetized by an electrified coil.

In a game called Jishaku, each player tries to place all of his magnetic“stones” on a board with other stones. The players determine where toplace a particular stone by judging the magnetic attraction or repulsionbetween the playing piece and those already on the board. The game, madeby RSV productions, is suitable for players 14 and older.

In a game called Yikerz, players also attempt to move their magneticplaying pieces around the board by repelling or attracting othermagnetic pieces, and even using magnetism to push competitors' piecesoff the board. The winner is the first player who has no pieces left.Players can alter the board layout and the initial placement of thepieces to change the skill level of the game. AB Games produces Yikerz,and the game is suitable for players 14 and older.

There are not however any games that use passively magnetized elementsplaced on a shaft that attract or repulse each other to make themapparently “hover”.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of certain embodiments of the invention, amulti-player magnetic element stacking game is disclosed which may beplayed on one or more shafts attached to a base and exploiting thephenomena of magnetic attraction or repulsion.

The foregoing Summary of the Invention is not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure contained herein nor limit the scope of theappended claims. To the contrary, as will be appreciated by thosepersons skilled in the art, variations of the foregoing describedembodiments may be implemented without departing from the claimedinvention.

The method and apparatus of the present invention will be betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed discussion of specificembodiments and the attached figures which illustrate and exemplify suchembodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and features of the invention may be understood withreference to the following detailed description of an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention taken together in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of three playing pieces in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a top plan view of a a playing piece in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a side elevation view of a a playing piece in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of shafts and base of a preferredembodiment the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a a side elevation view of a shaft with an individual base ofa preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a polyhedral die in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The following preferred embodiment as exemplified by the drawings isillustrative of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionas encompassed by the claims of this application.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a plurality of playing pieces 101 are shown.While playing pieces in the form of annular rings are shown, any shapemay be utilized provided that the selected shape allows the playingpieces to be utilized as further described herein.

The playing pieces 101 of FIG. 1 are magnetized such that they havemagnetically positive face 103 and a magnetically negative face 104.Playing pieces 101 further include opening 102 which are adapted toreceive therein shafts 205, shown in FIG. 3. Playing pieces 101 may bechosen from various colors, for example, from the color palate shown in103. The color may be disposed on the entire surface of the playingpiece or may be applied as a pattern in conjunction with other colors.The playing pieces are constructed such that there is no visualindication of the strength or polarity of the playing pieces'magnetization.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show playing piece 101 having opening 102 therethrough.

FIG. 3 depicts a playing board 200 a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. The playing board may be comprised of a baseboard (alsocalled a base) 201 which is adapted to receive a multiplicity shafts205. The shafts may be received into radially configured openings 202,or may be received into any suitably shaped and positioned opening.Alternatively, the shafts may be received on the baseboard by means ofany suitable attachment mechanism such as hook-and-loop fasteners, snapsand the like.

As depicted in FIG. 4, in certain embodiments of the present invention,the baseboard may be omitted. In such instances, shaft 405 may befree-standing, with an associated individual base 401.

Shafts 205 may be any spindle, tower, rod, pole, stem or other elongatedmember of any shape onto which a playing piece may be laced, spiked orthreaded. Alternatively, instead of shafts, members may be employed tocreate a pathway, channel, chute, conduit, or like structure into whichplaying pieces may be placed, for example, by providing instead of eachshaft multiple vertical members that define a channel between them intowhich playing pieces may be placed.

The baseboard may be manufactured from a variety of solid materials suchas plastic, metal wood or glass or it may be a combination of materials.

The baseboard may be magnetized, for example, by incorporating magnetstherein, such that a magnetic pole is present at the base of each shaftinserted into the baseboard. In this manner, each shaft has a startingpolarity that will attract or repel the first playing pieces lacedthereon. In embodiments lacking a baseboard (e.g., those withfree-standing shafts), the shafts may have a magnetized base in the samemanner as just described for the baseboard, with certain basesexhibiting positive polarity and others exhibiting negative polarity(i.e., as seen by a first playing piece slid down on the shaft). Ineither embodiment, there may be an absence of any indication of thepolarity of the base at any particular shaft.

The shafts can be randomly moved before the game play to randomize thepolarity of the board.

Certain embodiments of the present invention may include a game-playcommand generator, as described further herein, to generate directionsfor player action during players' turns. One such game-play commandgenerator, depicted in FIG. 5, may be a polyhedral die 501 having afour-sided pyramidal shape with the example commands 502 such as “take aturn”, “miss a turn”, “steal a playing piece”, and “remove your topplaying piece”, with each face containing a different game-play command.The commands may be in any language and may be embodied by words orlogos. Alternatively, any other random or pseudo-random game-playcommand generator may be used such as playing cards, spinners,electronic devices, poppers and the like.

The die of the preferred embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 may bemanufactured from solid material such as plastic, metal wood or glass ormay be a combination of materials. The polyhedral die may be cubed,tetrahedron, octahedron or any other suitable shape, as is generallyknown.

The foregoing embodiments may be utilized to implement one or morespecific methods of game play of the present invention. Such methods ofgame play may provide varying levels of complexity and may include amultiplicity of players or may be played as a game of solitaire (i.e.,for one player). The following discussion of game play considers certainembodiments of game play. It will be understood that the scope of thepresent invention is not limited to the following methods of game-play,other methods being within the scope of the instant invention.

At the simplest level, players first setup the game for play. To dothis, each player secures a shaft to the baseboard (or selects apreviously secured shaft), such shaft becoming that player's shaft forduration of the game (or until game-play dictates that one or moreplayers change shafts, such as through a game-play command instructingplayers to swap shafts). The game then starts by deciding the firstperson to play and the direction of play (clockwise orcounterclockwise), or by youngest to oldest, or any other method bymutual agreement.

The players then each take one playing piece and drop it to the base oftheir shaft.

The first player then selects any playing piece from the unplayedplaying pieces (i.e., those not already disposed on any player's shaft)and drops it onto their shaft. The playing piece falls under the effectof gravity and then, depending on the orientation of the magnetic fieldof it and of the playing piece or pieces below it, will be repelled orattracted to the playing piece immediately below it. If the droppedplaying piece is attracted to the playing piece directly below it, thetwo will “click” together and the player must remove the recently-playedplaying piece and return it to the center of the base. If the droppedplaying piece is repelled away from the playing piece directly below it,the dropped playing piece will “hover” above the base at a heightdetermined by the strength of the pieces' magnetic fields. It will beunderstood that as used herein, including in the appended claims,references to “dropping” playing pieces or playing pieces which may“fall” encompasses playing pieces which are actively slid or otherwisepositioned as if they had dropped or fallen (e.g., where a playing pieceis actively slid down a shaft to a position it would have occupied hadit been permitted to fall down the shaft under the force of gravityafter having been dropped on the shaft).

Alternatively, the foregoing rules may be reversed such that play may bebased on the playing pieces attracting and clicking together and theplayer removing the playing piece that is repelled and returning it tothe center of the base.

The winner of the simplest method of the game play is the first playerto achieve a predetermined number of hovering playing pieces oralternatively, number of attracted playing pieces, depending on whatgame method is chosen

In another embodiment, a slightly more advanced level of the game,players only select playing pieces of a particular color chosen by themupon starting the game. For example, Player 1 could select only yellowplaying pieces and must complete a predetermined number of yellowhovering playing pieces to win.

In a further embodiment, a yet more advanced method of play uses thepolyhedral die wherein, upon each player's turn, he/she rolls the dieand executes the game-play command revealed upon it. The commands mayinclude “take a turn”, “miss a turn”, “steal a piece from anotherplayer's shaft”, “remove a playing piece from your own shaft” or anyother instruction designed to introduce an element of chance into thegame. The number of faces of the polyhedral die may be determined by thenumber of game-play instructions available, although certain game-playcommands may have a higher probability of occurring than others, forexample, by appearing on multiple faces of the polyhedral die.

The object of the more-advanced game is to achieve either a predefinednumber of hovering playing pieces of the same color or a predefinedheight of hovering playing pieces of the same color. If preferred, analternative game can be played by determining the number of game piecesthat are attracted and “click” together as opposed to game pieces thatare repelled.

As another embodiment, the game may also use cards or a spinner havingvarious instructions. For example, the cards or spinner could includeinstructions such as “remove a playing piece from an opponent”, “choosea new disk”, “return a playing piece to base”, “skip a turn”, “remove aplaying piece and add to an opponent's shaft”, etc. The game may beplayed with just the cards, just the spinner or a combination of both orit may also include the use of a polyhedral die. A person of ordinaryskill in the art would understand that the game can be played withvarious combinations of playing pieces, cards, die and spinners andwould still remain within the scope of the present invention.

In another embodiment, the game is played using colored playing piecesand the players complete a shaft by adding playing pieces in a specificcolor sequence. This sequence can be based on instructions from cards, aspinner or a polyhedral die. For example, the sequence could beyellow/red/blue/green or red/green/yellow/blue, or any othercombination. The game could also use playing pieces with symbols, imagesor logos, and played in a similar manner where a player bases whichlogo, image or symbol to place on the shaft next, according to theinstructions provided. As an alternative, the instruction provided maybe used to add playing pieces to a neighboring opponent.

As an alternative embodiment, the game may be implemented in softwareand played upon one or more electronic and/or electronic computingdevices that have a display screen, including but not limited tocomputers, tablets, phones, smartphones, smartTV™, Xbox™, Playstation™and Wii™. The electronic version of the game could use virtual playingpiece playing pieces having virtual polarities that mimic the physicalgame pieces. The software could randomly decide the polarity of theplaying pieces and the game would function in the same manner as thephysical game described above. The game may be played by a single playerplaying against a virtual adversary or electronic and/or electroniccomputing devices may optionally be linked using a network interface toany network such as Internet, LAN, Bluetooth, WIFI, cellular networks,or similar so that game adversaries may compete against each other. Thegame may also be implemented in social media environments such asFacebook.

Although the particular embodiments shown and described above will proveto be useful in many applications in the gaming art to which the presentinvention pertains, further modifications of the present invention willoccur to persons skilled in the art. All such modifications are deemedto be within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A game for one or more players comprising: aplurality of shafts; a plurality of magnetized playing pieces, whereinthe playing pieces have faces of opposite magnetic polarity and achannel through the pieces dimensioned to to receive one of the shafts;wherein when two or more playing pieces are placed on a shaft bydisposing the shaft in the channel and permitting the pieces to slidedownwardly on the shaft, one or more of the pieces will attract or repelone or more of the other pieces in accordance with the magnetic polarityof the pieces.
 2. The game of claim 1 wherein the playing pieces arediscs and the channel of the playing pieces is annular.
 3. The game ofclaim 1, further comprising a game-play command generator that generatesa plurality of game-play directions for the players.
 4. The game ofclaim 3 wherein the game-play command generator comprises a polyhedraldie.
 5. The game of claim 3 wherein the game-play command generatorcomprises cards.
 6. The game of claim 3 wherein the game-play commandgenerator comprises a spinner.
 7. The game of claim 3 wherein theplaying pieces are discs and the channel of the playing pieces isannular.
 8. The playing pieces of claim 3 wherein said magnetic playingpieces each have one of a plurality of colors on at least one surface 9.The game of claim 3 wherein the playing pieces each have one of aplurality of logos printed on at least one surface.
 10. The game ofclaim 3 wherein the playing pieces each have one of a plurality ofimages printed on at least one surface.
 11. The game of claim 3 whereinthe playing pieces each have one of a plurality of symbols printed on atleast one surface
 12. The game of claim 1 further comprising a base, thebase adapted for receiving the shafts.
 13. The game of claim 12, furthercomprising a game-play command generator that generates a plurality ofgame-play directions for the players.
 14. The game of claim 12, whereinthe base comprises regions of differing magnetic polarity, such regionsbeing associated with one or more shafts.
 15. The game of claim 14,further comprising a game-play command generator that generates aplurality of game-play directions for the players.
 16. A method of gameplay for multiple players comprising the steps of (a) providing eachplayer with a shaft; (b) providing a plurality of unplayed magnetizedplaying pieces, wherein the playing pieces have faces of oppositemagnetic polarity and a channel through the pieces dimensioned to toreceive one of the shafts; (c) each player (i) selecting one unplayedplaying piece; (ii) dropping it onto her shaft; and (iii) eitherremoving the dropped playing piece from the shaft or leaving the droppedplaying piece on the shaft depending on whether the dropped playingpiece is magnetically attracted to or repelled from a previously droppedplaying piece in accordance with a predefined rule.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising the steps of repeating step (c) until ashaft of a player contains a particular number of pieces in accordancewith a predefined rule.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the unplayedmagnetized pieces each have one of a plurality of colors on at least onesurface, further comprising the steps of repeating step (c) until ashaft of a player contains a particular color pattern of pieces inaccordance with a predefined rule.
 19. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising the step of: (d) each player: (i) generating a game-playcommand from a predefined set of game-play commands using a game-playcommand generator; and (ii) effectuating the game-play command, whereinthe set of predefined game-play commands includes at least a command forselecting one unplayed playing piece and dropping it onto a player'sshaft;
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps ofrepeating step (d) until a shaft of a player contains a particularnumber of pieces in accordance with a predefined rule.
 21. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the unplayed magnetized pieces each have one of aplurality of colors on at least one surface, further comprising thesteps of repeating step (d) until a shaft of a player contains aparticular color pattern of pieces in accordance with a predefined rule.